Technical Field
The present invention relates to methods, systems, and apparatuses for the setup and control of home entertainment devices and content.
Background Art
A typical home entertainment system may consist of a variety of different multimedia devices, such as a television (TV), a cable/satellite set-top box, video game consoles such as Xbox™ or Playstation™, media streaming devices, such as Roku™, AppleTV™, Chromecast™, and a host of other devices, such as Blu-Ray™ players and compact disc (CD) players. Very often, these devices are connected through an audio-video receiver (AVR). A user's interaction with these devices can be classified into four distinct set of operations: (1) initial setup; (2) switching sources and control of devices; (3) accessing and controlling content playback; and (4) reconfiguration of the system when devices are added or removed.
The initial setup of multimedia devices not only includes wiring and connections, which can be quite intimidating, but also involves setting up a myriad of options in each of the devices. The crow's nest of wires makes it extremely difficult to trace back the connections in case one needs to make any changes. Furthermore, High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) interfaces require a user to identify which HDMI ports are input ports and which HDMI ports are output ports, thereby making setup even more complicated. Moreover, many TVs today are installed on the wall, which makes finding and reaching HDMI ports on the back of such TVs extremely difficult, let alone aligning the right cable so that it can be inserted into the port properly.
Once devices are connected, it becomes quite difficult to remember which device is connected to which port. Thus, switching between devices accurately becomes quite a struggle. For example, if a user wants to switch to a video game console, the user has to remember the port to which the game console is connected. As described above, devices, such as TVs and AVRs, require HDMI ports to be manually configured using menu options to identify which device is connected to which port. However, this option is quite cumbersome and seldom performed by the user.
In addition, the TV and AVR remote controls are difficult to use, but are essential to control the devices and other functions. For example, the TV or AVR remote control is required for selecting a particular device and other operations, such as volume control. However, due to the limited functionality of the TV or AVR remote control, the user needs to find and operate the device's remote control to start controlling the device (e.g., play, pause, stop, etc.). Thereafter, if the user decides to watch a program on the cable set-top box, he has to once again find the TV remote, remember which port the set-top box was connected to, switch to that port, and then operate the set-top box remote control and use it to control the device.
Once the devices are all set up and the user has learned to use the myriad of remote controls, day-to-day use involves the manner in which a user accesses content for viewing. For example, the content may be available for viewing via a software application installed on a device (e.g., a Blu-ray™ player, a TV, a media streaming device), or it may be being broadcast on a channel viewable via a cable/satellite set-top box. The need to search for content by applications, devices, broadcast times, etc. can be cumbersome. Once the content is found, switching to a particular device, launching the application and/or selecting/playing the content, is clumsy and inconvenient.
Moreover, if a user adds or removes a device from the setup, the whole setup process has to be repeated, and new inputs and controls have to be learned.